Traces of the Ottoman Musical Tradition in Early 20Th-Century Western-Style Turkish Art Music

ZESZYTY NAUKOWE TOWARZYSTWA DOKTORANTÓW UJ NAUKI S , NR 24 (1/2019), S. 131–142 E-ISSN 2082-9213 | P-ISSN 2299-2383 POŁECZNE WWW. .UJ.EDU.PL/ZESZYTY/NAUKI- DOI: 10.26361/ZNTDSP.10.2019.24.7 DOKTORANCI SPOLECZNE HTTPS:// .ORG/0000-0002-9842-1676 ORCID AGATA PAWLINA JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY IN KRAKÓW F PHILOLOGY INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL STUDIES ACULTY OF E-MAIL: AGATA.PAWLINA@ .UJ.EDU.PL DOCTORAL SUBMISSION: 30.12.2018 A : 11.07.2019 ______________________________________________________________________________________CCEPTANCE Traces of the Ottoman Musical Tradition in Early 20th-Century Western-Style Turkish Art Music A BSTRACT The Turkish Five (Türk Beşleri) is a name given to a group of composers whose works set out the direction for modern Western-style Turkish art music. After the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, the new generation of musicians trained in Europe had been given the task to establish a new musical tradition for the modern Turkish society. It was supposed to replace the Ottoman musical tradition. According to outlines given by the Turkish government, the new “National Music” (Millî Musiki) should encompass elements of Western-style art music and melodies of Turkish folk music. Five composers were especially successful in fulfilling this task, Necil Kâz Hasan Ferit Alnar, Ulvi hey brought to live music that was appreciated by Kemal Atatımürk Akses, himself . Although they were supposedCemal Erkin, to avoid Ahmet any Adnan elements Saygun of the and Ottoman Cemal musical Reşit Rey. tradition, By their even compositions, in the most pop t u- lar works of this period, one can hear influences that were not to be heard in the Millî Musiki. In this paper, the author presents the main guidelines and historical overview of the “musical revolution” which took place in Turkey of the early-republican period (1923–1938). Next, provides a list of compositions which prove her thesis that composers born in 1904–1908, as the youngest generation of the Ottoman Empire’s elite, did not completely reject the Ottoman musical heritage in which they were raised and brought some of its elements into 20th-century Western-style Turkish classical music. KEYWORDS Turkish Music, Ottoman Music, Turkish Five, Milli Musiki 132 AGATA PAWLINA __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction and Basic Musical Terms In 1923 the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed. Its first president, Kemal Ata- türk (1881–1938), dedicated his life to conducting wide-ranging legal, political and social reforms in his newly founded secular nation-state. The very important ideological framework of those reforms was the desire to cut off ties to the Ottoman Empire’s legacy, regardless of possible cultural loss for the society. Ayhan Erol accurately worded it saying: “Atatürk’s ideal was to build up a «nation» from the ashes of the empire. The state tried to construct an official (westernized) culture which underestimated the cultural needs of the Turkish people.”1 It is generally believed that the most important cultural changes in Turkey of the early-republican era (1923–1938) took place in the fields of lan- guage and customs, especially those related to Islam. This paper aims to show that Western-style Turkish classical music (field of culture sometimes forgotten in the context of the westernization process in the Republic of Turkey) had been a significant symbol and medium of change.2 Before we start evaluating how the ideal of new national Turkish music had been formulated and put into practice by the first generation of modern composers, called today The Turkish Five, it is crucial to define basic musical several possible classifications of music genres and a few definitions of “classical”terms and orconcepts “art” music used inas thisone paper.of them. Contemporary3 The author musicologyunderstands formulated “classical music” or “art music” in three ways. First is the professional way—as being performed by professional musicians educated in specialized institutions of musical education. Second is highly formalized—as written works regarding its theory and history and formalized system of transmitting its tradition, regardless of developing or not musical notation. Third is elitist—as being created and performed for or by the members of the highest social stratum at 1 A. Erol, Music, Power and Symbolic Violence, The Turkish State’s Music Policies During the Early Republican Period, “ 2 It is important to remember that the early-Republican Turkish government was not the first to perceive music as a symbolEuropean of modernizat Journal ofion Cultural process Studies” within 2012, the state. No. 1 Throughout (15), p. 39. the most of the 19th century, remaining sultans of the Ottoman Empire, starting with Selim III (1789–1807) and Mahmud II (1808–1839), conducted reforms within their court’s cultural institutions and Western-style classical music had been played by professional musicians in Istanbul and beyond since then. See more about the westernization process of the musical culture in the Ottoman Empire in another Author’s paper. A. Pawlina, Muzyka klasyczna Europy w Imperium Osmańskim –2. 3 See, e.g. Music, [in:] The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, eds. S. Sadie, J. Tyr- rell, M. Levy, New York–London, 2002.„Przegląd Orientalistyczny” 2014, nr 1 TRACES OF THE OTTOMAN MUSICAL TRADITION... 133 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ some point of its history. With those three features in mind, to define “Western- style classical music,” instead of in-depth musicological definition, the author wishes to use simple popular connotation known by all Readers—it is music that the Reader knows from European philharmonics and opera theaters. In the context of contemporary Turkish musical culture that term can be ap- plied to all compositions created by Turkish artists in the 20th and 21st-century using principles of European compositional techniques and Western musical instruments. On the other hand, ‘Ottoman-style classical music,’ as a phenomenon, not particular known, requires some further remarks. It emerged as the youngest of art music traditions of the Muslim Middle East at the court of the Ottoman Empire’s rulers in the late 16th century. Its practice had been transmitted by oral tradition (within close master-pupil relation) in meşkhanes—one of the cultural facilities of sultan’s court and Mevlevi Order.4 Its theory encompasses elements of Arabic and Persian musical traditions and had been described in numerous treatises, called edvar, within the period of 16th–21st century. Even though Western-style and Eastern-style art music shares an ance5 s- tor—ancient Greek music theory, throughout centuries they became very different from each other. The most significant difference in theory of music, one that had been used by Kemalists6 to build a strong anti-Eastern music argument, was its sophisticated monophonic system of melodic patterns called makam and rhythmic patterns called usul,7 juxtaposed with European 4 For detailed definition of meşk in English see: Fine Art, Fine Music, Con- trolling Turkish Taste at the Fine Arts Academy in 1926, “Yearbook for Traditional Music” 2000, Vol. 32, p. 120. J. M. O’Connell, For further readings in English on the Ottoman music’s history and theory see: The 5Ottoman Musical Tradition, [in:] The Cambridge History of Turkey, ed. S. Faroqhi, vol. 3, New York 2006, pp. 398–407; D. Ertan, Cycles and Peripheries, An Ottoman “Kitâb elC.-Edvâr” Behar,, “Asian Music” 2007, No. 1 (38); W. Feldman, Music of the Ottoman Court , Makam, Composition and the Early Ottoman Instrumental Repertoire, Berlin 1996; Writing the History of “Ottoman Music” 6 A term used to describe followers of Kemalism or Atatürkism—ideology based on Ke- mal Atatürk’s, eds. M. visionGreve, of E. aOğuz, modern O. Nobrega, Turkey, Würzburgin which culture 2015. and society was to fully embrace Western way of living. For details see e.g.: S. J. Shaw, E. K. Shaw, Historia Imperium Osmań- skiego i Republiki Tureckiej – 7 For further readings in English on Middle-Eastern classical music’s modal system see: A. Shiloah, Scales, Modes and, t. Rhythms2, tłum. B., [in:] Świetlik, Music Warszawa in the World 2012, of Islam, pp. 562 A Socio585.-Cultural Study, Detroit 2001. On Turkish makams and usuls: E. Popescu-Judetz, A Summary Catalogue of the Turkish Makams Makam, Modal Practice In Turkish Art Music, Wash- ington 1977; O. Yarman, A Comparative Evaluation of Pitch Notations in Turkish Makam Music, Abjad Scale & 24, -İstanbulTone Pythagorean 2010; K. Signell, Tuning – 53 Equal Division of the Octave as a Common 134 AGATA PAWLINA __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ polyphony, especially tonal harmony.8 Tension and disputes between practi- tioners of both traditions, Western-style and Eastern-style classical music, were an important part of public debate and Turkish culture as a whole throughout all 20th century, as we will see below. Millî Musiki—The National Music and “musical revolution”9

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